Romance in the Lower Elements
by Bojangles78
Summary: A Holly & Trouble story of their 'getting together' and further complications.
1. A Small Step For Man

"See ya, Holly!" waved Trouble as they walked out of the LEP building.

"Bye"

As Holly headed home, she decided to take a bus- the Lower Elements may have been underground but the air-con was set to mimic 'Winter' and 'Summer' at the appropriate time of year. It was currently -1̊0C, Foaly's idea of a European December.

Sat on the bus, Holly deeply regretted her choice of transport; wedged between an adolescent gnome (not the nicest smell) and a hormonal pixie she almost wished she was on the LEP shuttle. Almost.

About 40 minutes and 2 miles later a mobile rang. It took a further mile for Holly to realise it was hers.

"Hello?" she gasped, her arm practically stuck to her face due to lack of space.

"Hi Holly, its Trouble," he sounded nervous, a sound incidentally many LEP officers would pay to hear, "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, thanks. I just-" the bus jerked at the stop, and Holly was covered in the lemonade which the gnome had been drinking. She decided now would be a good time to get off the bus, despite the 2 miles left to her flat.

"Holly? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry about that!"

"What _was_ that?"

"I _was_ on the bus, but I just got off and I'm covered in some gnome's lemonade!"

"Right..."

"Why are you calling anyway?" Holly was genuinely confused; there was no human-related crisis, and she hadn't missed any paperwork deadlines...had she?

"I was just..well you're probably busy..err," he stuttered, worrying Holly.

"Trouble, is something wrong?"

"Doyouwanttogotodinnerwithmetonight?" The words escaped his mouth before he could believe it. Outside her flat, Holly grinned in spite of herself, her heart felt as though it was performing several somersaults.

"OK, sure!"

"Really? Excellent! I'll pick you up about 7ish?" Trouble, still stood in Police Plaza (where he had been working up the courage to call Holly for 20 minutes), was every bit as thrilled as Holly; his heart was performing a similar routine, his legs feeling like his mother's famous redcurrant jelly.

"That's fine, see you later!"

"Bye, Holly."

"Bye!" Holly put her phone back in her pocket. As she unlocked her front door, she smiled. A date! With Trouble Kelp! Wow!


	2. The Date!

At 6 O'clock, Haven Mean time, Trouble Kelp put down the phone, happy that the restaurant had had a spare table, and even happier when he remembered who he would be sitting at it with.

In spite of the fact that he was one of the LEP's most famous officers (and apparently quite good looking), Trouble had never actually had a proper date...or girlfriend. There had only ever been Holly.

Holly, who he walked into work with most days.

Holly, who he ate lunch with every day.

Holly, who in, he checked his watch, 15 minutes!

"D'Arvit," he swore, and rushed into the shower before he could get distracted again.

At 5 to 7, Holly finally managed to 'style' her hair, and checked her reflection.

'5 minutes!' she thought.

Of course, Holly knew that she would be the subject of wild and exciting (but probably untrue) rumours tomorrow, but was too...happy to care- Trouble Kelp had asked her out!

The buzzer on the door rang, looking through the small window Holly recognised him.

"Sorry I'm late," panted Trouble, "I got caught up and- whoa"

He stopped mid-sentence as he took in the elf stood before him. Holly (in his mind) always looked beautiful, but tonight, in a dress the colour of emeralds, it was enough to make his knees wobble.

"Do you, err, want a drink or something?" Having never been on a 'date' before either, Holly was unsure of what exactly happened next.

"I'm OK, thanks. I got us a table at Stanza's for 7.20, I thought we we'd walk there, if that's OK." Even though there was no ozone layer for them to damage, fairies were remarkably eco-friendly. During their time on the surface, they had cared for the earth whilst the humans destroyed; it was the same now (although with considerably less grunting).

Fetching her new purple coat and her bag, Holly glanced over at Trouble, who was pretending to be very interested in the family photo her cousin Lara had sent her.

'He really is...handsome,' she thought, 'He could get any girl he wanted- why me?'

As they came out of Stanza's after a delicious meal (vegetable stir-fry for Trouble and a Mediterranean salad for Holly) the same question was still playing upon her mind.

They had just reached Holly's flat when she blurted it out.

"Why me?"

"What do you mean?" Trouble looked puzzled.

"I mean you could get any girl in the LEP, in Haven even, but you asked me! Why?"

He answered her with a (ahem) knee-wobbling kiss on her lips.

"Because I think you're brilliant, Holly Short."


	3. The Morning After The Night Before

Holly Short was rudely awoken by her alarm clock. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

She rolled over, the digital display of the clock flashing 0615. Whilst another hour in bed greatly appeared to her, this was simply not practical; after all, as Root had always told her, criminals do not commit crime at a time suited to you. After allowing herself a pang of remembrance for her commander, Holly dragged herself out of bed.

Meanwhile, 3 miles away, Trouble woke (as always) to the sound of his brother's radio; 'You Raise Me Up' making his ears hurt. Westlife were his brother's favourites, though the same couldn't be said for him- the only human bands he liked were the ones who could actually play their instruments.

At 5 past 7, Holly walked through Police Plaza, arriving with 25 minutes to spare, 25 minutes which Foaly decided to spend 'chatting' about her and Trouble.

"Morning Holly, where's Trouble?" Foaly ducked as a floppy disk narrowly missed his head.

"Hey! That's worth a fortune-antique, a genuine Dell!" He retrieved the disk, making a mental note to store it in the Swiss account.

"How'd you know, anyway?" Holly smiled, allowing the memory of last night to wash over her.

"Oh please! I have cameras in every restaurant in Haven. I must say, that dress was stunning!

"Thanks...OI!" Foaly had begun to play the footage, the speakers were turned right up

"_You look beautiful, Holly" _the on-screen version of Trouble was saying.

Unfortunately, nothing more was to be seen as a second disk, this one a CD, tore the video screen.

Later, at lunch, Trouble stood in the canteen, his eyes scanning the room...there! Sat with Foaly. He walked over, aware of the assorted cat-calls and wolf whistles that would ensue.

"Hey" he slid into a seat next to Holly, who promptly dropped the cheese sandwich she had been eating.

"Hi" her face glowing, Holly quickly silenced Foaly with a swift kick under the table.

Still, he couldn't resist.

"Shall I leave you two alone, or shall I simply observe?"

About to retort, Holly felt her words escape as she read the piece of paper tossed at her earlier.

"Holly, are you OK?" Trouble saw the emotion leave her face as quickly as she then left the room.

"Oh dear," sighed Foaly.

Attention, LEP

You are formally invited to a remembrance service dedicated to the memory of Commander Julius root, who was killed a year ago by LEP Captain Holly Short.

Everyone who cared welcome to attend

20th January, 7:30 pm, Lower Elements Council ballroom

Across the bottom, someone had scrawled

BUT NOT YOU MURDERER.

Trouble ran after her.

"Holly?"

She was sat against the fire exit door, and when she turned to face him, hear face was tear-stained and red.

Trouble sat down and put his arm around her whilst she wept.


	4. Remembering

Foaly raced back to the Ops booth, once he had finished his soup, that is.

He knew Holly was not over the death of Julius, not many were, yet it had hit her especially hard. Deep down, Foaly suspected that her attachment to him had formed from the loss of her own father; Root had been the next best thing.

Now he and Trouble seemed to be the only ones left for her.

_I must not let anything happen to Holly_ the centaur promised, and a plan appeared in his head.

After what felt like minutes, but was probably hours, Holly began to stir in Trouble's arms; she had quite literally cried herself to sleep.

An incredible peace washed over Trouble, one which he could not remember since before his father left.

_Trouble, aged 14, stood opposite Alan Kelp, his father. Behind him lay his 8 year old brother, Grub, cowering in fear._

_The front door clicked._

"_I'm home!" called Lydia Kelp, arms laden with groceries. Her eyes took in the scene in front of her, the shopping fell from her arms. _

"_Alan? Alan, what've you done? Where are the boys?"_

_Alan Kelp took a step back from Trouble; a step towards Lydia._

"_Don't you DARE-"_

_She was cut off once Alan had hit her, hard._

"_Get off her!" shouted Trouble, advancing towards him. "Stop it!"_

"_Daddy please stop!" whined Grub_

"_Daddy you're scaring me!" Grub began to cry._

_Their father took one last look around the room, and left._

Trouble looked at the sleeping Holly. She seemed so peaceful her delicate frame shielded from harm by his arms.

"_Daddy's not coming back, is he?" Grub climbed in to trouble's bed._

_A minute, maybe more, of silence passed._

"_No Grub," he sighed. "He's not."_


	5. Forgotten Dates

**A/N I know it's short, sorry! The new Artemis Fowl book isn't out until the 7th of August here (UK) so I'm a bit wary of looking at other stories...**

Foaly was flicking through his diary, filling the 5 minutes until the end of his, so far boring, day.

_ 23__rd__ December: Go to Atlantis for Anniversary- phone Annaliese_

_ 25__th__ December: Anniversary(!), Holly's birthday_

_ 27__th__ December: Back from Atlantis, pick up groceries_

Holly's birthday. He had forgotten! Seeing as Holly had been absent for her last three birthdays, in his time anyway, he had grown used to spending the date with his wife.

There was a cousin Holly had, Annaliese he thought her name was, who visited occasionally, but she was currently working as a travel rep for AtlantisTravelLtd; she was the rep who he and Caballine had booked their holiday with, so she wouldn't be around.

Who else was there? Her father had died, as had her mother, no sisters, no brothers. Root, the closest to family Holly had had, was, Foaly remembered sadly, dead.

Luckily for Foaly, Trouble Kelp had not forgotten Holly's birthday. In fact, he already had a plan.


	6. Forms

**A/N Sorry its taken a while for me to write this, I've been reading the Time Paradox, which came a day early for some reason :P There'd better be another one or I may get very slightly depressed!**

"You're absolutely _certain_," began Foaly, for the eighth time that morning, "that only Commander Kelp will have access to Ops?"

"Yes," sighed the LEP technician whose shift had finished at least an hour ago.

"You're sure? Because if I return from Atlantis to find the place covered in tinsel again..."

Trouble interrupted, prompting a sigh of relief from the aforementioned techie: "Foaly. Everything is going to be _fine_. Just enjoy your anniversary!"

Reluctantly, Foaly left Ops, running a finger fondly over one of his early V-Boards. He was nearly at the doors when he stopped, unable to resist.

"You're 100 percent sure..."

"Foaly!"

20 minutes later, Commander Trouble Kelp was sat at his desk. It had been a slow few days and today promised the same lack of excitement. He sighed. More forms; all forms that passed through the LEP now had to be personally signed by the new Commander under new rules most probably suggested by Corporal Kelp.

This morning, he had been given CCs of the repositioning of Hybras, several complaints registered by his younger brother, and some Holly Short's Psych forms, although a few appeared to be missing. The Commander decided to collect them from her himself, not necessarily standard procedure, but he wanted to talk to Holly about a couple of things. He left his office, careful on the way to make sure that no-one had broken into Ops (they hadn't), and found himself watching her banging her head on the desk.

Holly groaned. She was sat in her office filling in yet another LEP Psych form: _Do you regularly travel through time_;_ How often would you estimate you eat the following vegetables per week_;_ You want to go out tonight for some Verbil Action?_ The last question had undoubtedly been added by one of the new recruits assigned to Chix Verbil, or indeed, the sprite himself. She screwed up the form in sheer despair, and threw it into the Recycling bin behind her.

"Nice shot, Captain Short," came a voice from the doorway. Holly turned to see Trouble stood, holding the offending form.

"I'm afraid I came to collect another form," he continued apologetically, seeing the already unsavoury expression on her face darken a little, "Although I can see it's been...sabotaged, so I expect we can forget about this one, I'll photocopy one of your others if you want."

"Thanks, Trouble," she smiled, lighting up the room, not literally, although Foaly was currently developing lights which reacted to the dominant mood and emotion in a room.

"No problem." He turned to the calendar on the wall, and recalled why he had come down in the first place.

"It's your birthday on Wednesday, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yes, why?" she replied, secretly pleased that someone had remembered.

"I was just wondering if you'd made any plans," Trouble said, hoping that she hadn't.

"Not that I know of, it seems that everyone has better things to do now!" there was a trace of bitterness in her voice, masked by her characteristic sarcasm.

"Do you want to come over to my place after work? I think Grub's going to our Mum's for tea so he won't be around to play any...Westlife" he seemed to shudder as he said the last word, they truly were awful, even for a human band.

"That sounds good," her smile widened a little as she answered.

"Excellent! I think we're on the same shift, so we can walk back from work, if you want." He looked at his watch.

"I'd better get back to my office; Grub will probably have lodged another 6 complaints since I've been here," Trouble remarked, well used to his brother's whining nature.

"Alright then, I'll see you at lunch?" It was part of the day she looked forward to, punctuating her usual day of form-filling and finding rogue gnomes.

"Yeah, hopefully!" He leant over and kissed her lightly on her forehead, making both of them blush a little in pleasure.

Holly watched him as he made his way up the corridor, and was mildly surprised to find that, for the first time in 4, no, 7 years she was looking forward to her birthday.


	7. A Flaw In The Plan

**A/N Ok, it's the 13th of August and you would not believe how rainy/windy it is here, which is why I've updated quite quickly (for once!)**

Trouble unlocked the door to his (and Grub's, he reminded himself) flat and made his way over to the kitchen in order to think about what he could cook for Holly. She had ordered a salad when they had been at the restaurant, although Trouble had a feeling that this could possibly cause offence. In that case, he decided to serve couscous with grilled halloumi and whichever vegetables were in the fridge, followed by birthday cake. Chocolate, of course.

Seeing as Grub was due home in about half an hour, Trouble thought that he could use the opportunity to practise. The couscous, that is- the chocolate for the cake would be bought at the last possible moment, or his younger brother would devour it within minutes.

45 minutes later, the doorbell rang. Grub had forgotten his keys again.

"Trubs! Trubs can you let me in please?" he called through the letterbox.

"I'm coming," Trouble sighed in reply, placing the plates on the kitchen table on his way. It had taken longer than anticipated to prepare the vegetables, and this was further complicated by the act that the kitchen knives in the dishwasher were still dirty- someone had forgotten to set it before they left for work that morning.

"Ooh," said Grub, wiping his (immaculate) boots on the doormat. "Something smells nice!"

They sat down and began eating, exchanging anecdotes of each others' day: Grub had sent a request to Foaly for a Retimager exam to prove to Captain Verbil that he _hadn't_ been staring at Lili Frond; Trouble had finally completed the last Hybras form; Grub had filed a complaint against the macaroni cheese in the canteen.

"Don't forget, Trubs, that Mummy's coming to tea on Wednesday. Is that why you cooked this tonight? To practise? Trub?" Trouble had stopped eating, a look of horror on his face.

"I thought you were going to Mum's for tea on Wednesday!" he exclaimed.

"I was, but Mummy phoned me at work and said that she never gets to see you," Grub looked rather put-out at this, "So she's going to come here because you said you were too busy to go to her house. Why? Is that a problem?" Grub finished, and took another forkful of red pepper.

"Well, I've asked Holly to come over as it's her birthday on Wednesday."

"Oh."


	8. Explanations and Envelopes

**AN- Sorry it's taken a while for me to update, I've been visiting family in Suffolk, aka most overcast place in England... Anyway, here's the chapter :)**

* * *

The next day dawned, as usual, artificially at the calculated time of 0630, the same time as Trouble's alarm clock sounded. He dragged himself out of his warm, cosy bed and showered quickly before Grub could get in there and use up all the hot water. Granted, his brother was rarely awake until midday, unless they had work, but still...

He made his way to the kitchen and stuck two slices of wholemeal bread in the toaster, switching the radio on as he waited for it to pop up. There was a note fixed to the fridge, he noticed as he took out the marmalade. It read '_Don't forget to get some more milk as Mummy is coming to tea tomorrow and she was not happy last time when we had no milk so don't forget to get some. Grub._' Grammar had never been Grub's strong point.

He had nearly forgotten about the mix-up in dates, and reminded himself to tell Holly that they would (unfortunately, thought Trouble) not be alone when she came over. If she still wanted to, he worried, as his mother had a reputation for filling uncomfortable silences with awkward questions, which generally created more silence. He sighed. Holly would surely have heard about this, and the fact that she had been mysteriously absent for three years would not ease the questions, on the contrary, it would positively encourage them. Maybe he could ask Holly to come over earlier, so as to...prepare her for the inevitable interrogation. Oh, and to give her her present, of course.

Holly Short's phone rang. She looked at her clock in the kitchen: 7.30am. She wondered who it was; she wasn't supposed to be going in to work today, a reward of sorts from Trouble for completing the forms, and even if she was, she would have had at least half an hour to get there.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, Holly, it's Trouble," she could hear Grub singing along to the radio in the background, and smiled.

"Oh hey, how are you? You know I'm not coming in today, right?"

"Yeah I know. About tomorrow," he began tentatively. "Is it OK if you come over earlier, about 4ish?"

"I think so, although I'll have to change at work. Why?" They had originally planned to meet outside Holly's flat at around quarter past 5.

"Well, it turns out that Grub has invited my mother to dinner, so I wanted to be able to...prepare you." Holly laughed. Trouble's mother, Lydia, was well known for her questioning, and presumed that going 'missing' for three years would not make her exempt.

"Oh, yeah, that's fine. Are we going to yours straight after work?"

"If that's alright with you?"

"It is. See you tomorrow, Trouble."

"Bye, Holly." He paused before pressing the small red 'End Call' button; felt there was something more he should say, although a low monotonous sound coming from the handset told him that Holly 

wasn't there. He replaced the phone and picked up his paperback before closing the front door behind him as he left for Police Plaza.

Several hours, and a few chapters, later, Trouble Kelp opened the black oven door to reveal a round chocolate cake which was only very slightly burned around the edges. He could cover that with frosting though, provided it hadn't been eaten yet. It had been in the oven for 5 minutes longer than necessary, so he slid on the green oven gloves and flipped the cake onto the wire cooling rack. After about 60 minutes, he deemed the cake cool enough to be iced, so he proceeded to do so, and finished it off by piping 'Happy Birthday Holly' on top in melted chocolate. Perfect.

The residents of Haven awoke the next morning to the sight of (fake) snow falling to the ground, in recognition of the fact that, above ground, humans all over the world were celebrating Christmas Day.

Holly's phone rang for the second time in as many days.

"Hello," she answered sleepily; there had been a rerun of the Mud Man TV series 'House' which she had stayed up late to watch, too late considering that she had to be at work earlier today.

"Happy Birthday, Holly!" yelled Foaly down the phone.

"Thanks, happy anniversary!" she replied, pleased that she had remembered the important date.

"Thanks! I've got to go, sorry, but you would not _believe_ how much it costs to call from under the sea!"

"Don't worry about it, have a good day," Atlantis was known for its high rates, even compared to the rest of the Lower Elements.

"Bye!"

She put down the phone and showered quickly. She headed to the kitchen to grab a Cereal bar, and noticed that a light on her answering machine was flashing. Having never received a message in this way before, it took a few moments for her to find out what the caller had actually said.

"You have 1 new message," announced the pre-recorded message in Foaly's voice, for it was he who had developed the system. "Press Green to play."

She pressed the green button, a little excited in anticipation.

"Hi, Holly, it's Trouble. I was just calling to wish you Happy Birthday," she smiled hearing his voice. "Anyway, I guess I'll see you at work." He paused. "Bye!"

"To replay the message, press 1. To delete the— " Holly pressed the button to end the call, replaced the phone to the kitchen table, and left for work.

The day passed as days tended to at the LEP: slowly. Even Holly, who had experience of time speeding up and slowing down within seconds, found it took an age to reach the lunch break, 

although predictably the one time of the day she usually saw Trouble seemed to be over before it had begun, and they were all back to work.

The Commander in question was sat in his office, rotating slowly on his chair. He desperately wanted to give Holly her present now, anything to relieve the tedium, but he had wanted to save that for when they got home. Maybe he could give her the card he had gotten her; she didn't have a particularly busy afternoon ahead of her either.

There was a quiet knock on the door. Trouble turned on his chair quickly, a bit too quickly it turned out, as he promptly fell face first onto the cold, hard floor.

"Very smooth, Trouble," came a voice from the aforementioned door.

"Oh shut up," he growled, and realised who he was talking to. "Sorry, Holly! I didn't realise it was you!"

"I was just coming to talk to you, I've been bored stiff, and if I have to hear Grub...flirting...with Lili Frond one more time I may spontaneously combust." There was a slight trace of sarcasm in her voice, although it was very faint. He decided that now probably would be a good time to give her the present, if only to distract her.

"He does seem to be attracted to her, although I can't say the same for Lili!" he joked, picking up the white envelope with her card in and the present that was taped to it. "Anyway, Happy Birthday," he said, giving her the small package.

She smiled as she took it and began carefully unwrapping her present, revealing a CD ('An End Has A Start' by Mud Man band _Editors_), and continued to open the envelope, after thanking Trouble. Out of the card fell two pieces of paper, which upon further inspection appeared to be...

"Concert tickets?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah, for the Foo Fighters' concert at Lords in a couple of weeks. I saw you had a load of their CDs and figured that you like them. The LEP's got a box there so we wouldn't need to worry about being seen or anything..."

"That's amazing Trouble!" Exclaimed Holly. "Seriously, thank you!" She said, as she jumped up to hug him.

Trouble looked a little surprised at this outward show of affection, Holly was the most private person he knew, but then with Foaly away there was no-one to see them. Remembering this fact, he extended the embrace by kissing her shyly on the lips. A few minutes later, they broke apart at the sound of the klaxon which signalled the end of their day.

"I'll go and get changed," said Holly. "See you in a minute." She walked towards the (pitifully small) Ladies Changing Rooms, and Trouble headed towards the (significantly larger) Men's.

Within 5 minutes, both were changed: Trouble into a slightly smarter shirt and jeans outfit than usual, probably to appease his mother; Holly into a grey sweater and a dark denim skirt, which she 

wore over dark green tights. Trouble stopped for a moment, as did many of the other male employees nearby- Holly Short in a _skirt_?

"I'm only doing this so your mother doesn't go on about how I never wear anything...girly," she shuddered as she said it. "Like she did last time. I don't see why it's such a big deal though," she muttered.

"You look lovely all the time, you know that, don't you," he murmured. "Come on, let's go." As he said this he slipped his hand quietly into hers, and they left the building.  


* * *

**AN In case you didn't know, Lords is an English cricket ground (the Home of Cricket or something like that), the concert's meant to be basically like their Wembley concerts...I was at the Saturday one...it was awesome XD! Au Revoir for now!**


	9. Frequently Asking Questions

**AN- Well, this is the last chapter sob, sorry its taken a while for me to update; we're 'Back to School' so I've been doing homework...already!**

* * *

It was, as usual, gridlocked outside Police Plaza, so they decided to forgo the bus and to walk to Trouble's flat instead; it was about a 20 minute walk, although they would probably make it in 15.

"What time did you say your Mother is coming over?" Holly asked, subconsciously pulling on the hem of her skirt.

"Well, Grub didn't specifically say, but she usually comes over at about 5," he sighed, and put his arm around her, as Holly had begun to shiver a little.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I guess I forgot how freaking cold Foaly can make it when he wants to!"

They spent the next 10 minutes or so talking about the Foo Fighters concert, who would be the supporting acts and which songs were their favourites; Holly's was 'My Hero'; Trouble's was 'Monkey Wrench'. They were both equally excited about it, especially as Grub had been threatening to take them to a Westlife concert. Eventually, they reached the building where Trouble's apartment was, and, to his enormous relief, there was no sign of his mother's car anywhere.

It was a few of flights of stairs to his floor, and the lifts were broken again.

"I'll race you," challenged Holly, and they both sprinted up the stairs until they reached the 4th level. Trouble won, although Holly said that it was only because he was wearing trousers. They were still a little out of breath as he unlocked the door.

"Trouble!" exclaimed a voice from inside, which appeared to be...

"D'Arvit," he swore under his breath, then proceeded to greet his mother, who hugged him so tightly he found himself, again, short of breath.

"You're panting, Trouble. I do hope you and—" she paused, waiting to be introduced.

"Holly. This is Holly Short, Holly, this is my Mum." They shook hands stiffly, both feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Anyway, I hope that you and Holly weren't getting up to anything...unsavoury on your way here, were you?" finished Mrs Kelp.

Holly blushed, as did Trouble, who decided to explain, "No! The lifts were broken, so we ran up the stairs."

She eyed Holly's skirt suspiciously, causing Holly to blush again; she could probably convince even the late Commander Root that they were related.

"Trouble won," Holly added. "It turns out that running up 4 flights of stairs isn't the best thing to do wearing a skirt." She laughed nervously, and was relieved to find the other two joined her.

Trouble led the two elves through to the living room, where he sat in the armchair, leaving Holly to sit down awkwardly next to his mother. The next half an hour passed with genial conversation, Mrs Kelp having made three cups of tea for them when she arrived: this prompted her to explain about Grub giving her a spare key the week before. She complemented Holly on her appearance, and asked far too many questions, in Trouble's opinion at least, about her time in Hybras, and just 

exactly how close she was to Artemis Fowl, or 'That Mud Boy' as Mrs Kelp called him. Holly answered the questions as well as she could, although she didn't really know the specifics herself. Trouble was trying to think of the most subtle way to change the subject-his Mother had begun questioning Holly about past boyfriends and love interests- when the front door clicked open.

"I'm home!" shouted Grub, and Mrs Kelp shot up from where she had been sat to smother her younger son with kisses.

"Sorry about all that," muttered Trouble to Holly.

"Don't worry about it, I've faced trolls before!" she laughed, clearing the room of the tension that had filled it moments before.

Grub entered the room, followed closely by his Mother, and Trouble looked at the clock to see how long Grub had stayed after work when he realised that it was almost 7pm.

"I'd better start cooking dinner," announced Trouble, and Holly, not eager to spend any more time being interrogated in the company of Grub Kelp and his mother, said: "I'll help you as well" and sped out of the room behind him.

Dinner was ready within 20 minutes; Trouble had initially planned to have a couple of candles on the table, but thought that it might give his Mother more ideas. Instead, he slid a Simon and Garfunkel CD in to his CD player, and served the meal to 'The Sound of Silence'. Even with the distraction of food, Mrs Kelp asked more questions than anyone had probably ever been asked, although after a couple of looks from her son, they subsided into casual chatter about life at the LEP, where Grub began a monologue of complaints sprinkled with comments about Lili Frond; Mrs Kelp couldn't have been more ecstatic about this if she tried, it was clear to Holly that in Lydia Kelp's eyes Lili Frond was a far more suitable girlfriend for a Kelp than she was. Ten minutes later, once everyone had finished, Trouble excused himself from the table, instructing the others to stay sat down, prompting Grub to ask Holly about her opinions on the Backstreet Boys, who she had never heard of, which in turn prompted him to launch into an explanation of their greatest hits and albums; he was about to put one of the aforementioned albums on when his elder brother appeared in the doorway.

He was holding what appeared to be a chocolate cake covered in frosting and several candles, and nodded to his mother, who began to sing: "_Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Holly..._," she paused as Trouble set the cake on the table, by this time Grub had joined the singing, "_Happy Birthday to you!"_.

"Trubs made the cake, Holly," Trouble said, as if he had believed such a thing was not possible. His brother blushed, as did Holly.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, "but why did you go to all this trouble, for me?"

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, so that only she could hear, "because I love you, Holly."

"Well," said Mrs Kelp, "are you going to blow out your candles or is Grub going to do it for you?" There was laughter in her voice, and Holly closed her eyes, took in a breath, and wished.


End file.
